
Qass. 
Book. 



OUR DEPARTED PRESIDENT. 



A SERMON ^viJ^- 



PREACHED IN THE 



w^tlti^liteiiiii iittwl 



April 19tli, 1865, 



REV. W. T. SPROLE, D.D. 

PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



NEWBURGH : 

CYRUS B. MARTIN, PRINTER, 
1865. 



OUR DEPARTED PRESIDENT. 



A SERMON 



I'KKACIIED IN THE 



wiitpw^lDleniii iliiMl, 



(3 



Ai^ril 19th, 1865, 



REY. W. T. SPBOLE, D.D, 



PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. 



?S'i:\VlU liCill: 

CYKl'S a MARTIN, rKlNTtH, 

1865. 




eORliESPOlVDEIVCE, 



Newburoh, N. Y., April 10, 18G5. 
Rev. Dr. Sprole: 

Dear Pastor— The undersigned, memljers of your Churcli and 
congregation, feeling deeply tlie solemnity of the occasion that called 
us to asscmlile for pul)lic worship to-day, and desiring that our whole 
community may have the benetit of your very apjiropriatc discourse 
delivered on the event of the death of Abraham Lincoln, our lieloved 
President, do respectfully request you to furnish a copy thereof for 
publication. 

Your compliance with this request will greatly oblige 

Yours, affectionately, 
JAMES W. TAYLOR, HARVEY WEED. 

STEPHEN HAYT, M. C. BELKNAP, 

JOHN R. WILTSIE, JOHN L. WESTERVELT, 

T. BARTLETT, CHARLES B. ROYCE, 

J. H. WATERS, PETER V. B. FOWLER, 

G. D. JOHNES, JOHN R. GORHAM. 

JAMES ROGERS, 



Dear Brethren : 

Your request for a coi)y of the sermon preached to-day, with 
reference to the untimely removal of our President, has been duly 
received. I cheerfully comply with that request, and herewith jjlace 
the manuscript at your disposal. The only regret I have in handing it 
to you for publication is, that it is so unworthy of the occasion which 
called it forth. It was my purpose, when tirst receiving your note, to 
have recast the whole of it; but on reflection, as your request was made 
for the discourse as you heard it, I have not felt at liberty to carry out 
that purpose. I send it with all its imperfections, and which were, 
doubtless, overlooked by your partial kindness, and as a chaplet placed 
with a loving heart upon the bier of our lamented chief. That it may 
answer the jDurpose you have expressed in your note, is the earnest wish 
of 

Your friend and pastor, 
April 19th, 1865. W. T. SPROLE. 

To James W. Taylor, Esq., and others. 



SERMON. 



Isaiah IT, v. 32 : " Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nos- 
" trils : for, wherein is he to be accounted of?" 

Cluvpter in, v's 1, 3, 3 : "For, Ix'hold, the Lord, the Lord ot host.-, 
" doth take away trom Jerusalem and from Judah tlie stay and the 
" statt", the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water, the mighty 
" man, and the man of war, the judge, and the prophet, and the pru- 
"dent and the ancient, the cajjtain of tifty, and the honoral jle man, and 
" the counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the ^eloquent orator." 

* Skilful of speecli. 

I have selected these verses, my hearers, as an appropriate 
caption to some remarks rehitive to tlie man wliose death 
has been the occasion of our assembly to-day, in the house 
of God. In accordance with the recommendation of our 
national authorities, and in keeping Avith the promptings of 
our own sorrow-stricken hearts, we are here to participate in 
those funeral solemnities which a bereaved, nation performs 
for their departed chief. 

A simple remark concerning the text. The signal niisim- 
provement and abuse of their civil and religious privileges, 
by tlie men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
had more than jeoparded their continuance. The prophet 
was commissioned by his Divine master to predict the sad 
calamities which awaited them ; and speaking of the future, 
as though its developments had actually occurred, he groups 
in the passage l^efore us some of the most appalling distresses 
which could happen them. 

The verses are easily accommodated to our present condi- 
tion as a nation. A terrible calamity lias fallen upon us. 
The sudden, unexpected and startling removal of our Presi- 
dent, by the red hand of the assassin, calls us to mourn the 
taking away of the man of might, of war — the prudent, the 
honorable, the counsellor, the cunning artilicer, the eloquent 



6 

orator. Primarily, all these distiiigiiisliing and ennobling 
cliaractcristics were applied separately to individnals; bnt 
is it the exaggeration into which personal regard and partial 
kindness often betray ns, to affirm that it wonld be diffienlt 
to find a man who condjined them all in a more eminent 
degree than our lamented President i 

Dnring the excitement of a political campaign ; in the 
midst of the embittered rivalries of party ; in the flood of 
acrimonious debate — when passion blinds, and prejudice 
distorts — -where excellences are dimly visible, and faults are 
amplified and intensified — where the impaired moral vision 
is apt to transfer its own defects to the ol)ject on which it 
gazes, and the living man becomes a target so broad that 
any arm, no matter how puny, has strength enough to reach 
it with the venomed shaft — when comment is too often con- 
demnation without reason, and criticism makes up in acri- 
mony what it lacks of honesty : — to have applied such terms 
to Abraham Lincoln, might have sounded, in the ears of 
many, like fulsome adulation or wild and extravagant eulogy. 
But, now that he is dead, and passion sleeps, and prejudice 
is gone, who that considers his character as a whole; who 
that studies that character in the light of his official acts and 
private intercourse with men during the last four and trying- 
years, can fail to discover in it the very traits which the 
prophet ascribes to the men of renown, whose loss to Judali 
and Jerusalem is placed among the most signal calamities 
which could befall them i 

There is something in this visitation of Divine Providence 
as wonderful as it is saduing. Yet it is monitory and full 
of the most salutary instructions, if wisely improved. That 
as christians, believers in revealed truth, satisfied that all 
events are in the hand of (lod, and that his hand is in all 
the events of life, whether experienced by society or individ- 
uals, such as reach the body politic or the parts composing 
it, we must entertain the conviction that in thus affiicting 
us, some wise purpose is to be accomplished ; some discipli- 
nary treatment was needful for us which this affliction could 



eft'ect ; some painful but instructive lesson to be tauglit us, 
wlucli we were either too sIoav to learn, or inclined to overlook. 
Sin is, doubtless, the cause of all our sorrows and sufferings. 
Our national sins precipitated upon us the desolating war, 
from the miseries of which we are just escaping. If nations 
are chastised, it must be in this world. The future judg- 
ment is for the trial of individuals. Persons may escape 
here the just desert of their misdeeds, because hereafter they 
can be overtaken by justice. Communities, as such, exhaust 
whatever penalties may attach to their crimes before they 
die ; for them there is no life to come. Hence, walking 
(contrary to God's commandments in this world, leads him 
to withhold or withdraw the light of his countenance. 
^' The curse causeless, shall not come." Prov. 26, 2. " Shall 
there be evil in the city, and the Lord hath not done it?" 
Amos 3, 6. In the removal of the political head of our na- 
tion, though his death was effected by the hand of the as- 
sassin, the Lord has chastised ns. This is but another of 
the strokes dealt by the rod of his Providence, and Avhicli 
has afflicted us during the last four years. 

But, how surprising to remove him from us at such a time 
— to permit his death to occur in such a way. After we had 
drained to the dregs the bitter cup which this unnatural, 
terrible fratricidal war pressed to our lips — the period of our 
national sorrow drawing to a close — victory crowning our 
army wherever the enemy was met — our misguided, infatu- 
ated, guilty brethren compelled to own their impotence and 
despairing of success — their ill-starred government disinte- 
grated and falling into ruins — many once stout in their re- 
sistance to constituted authority discovering their wrong 
and ready to return to their allegiance, sad at heart that 
they have renounced it — the voice of gladness on every 
loyal lip, and our starry banner floating again in what had 
been the high places of rebellion — the people in the very act 
of preparing to set apart a day, in celebration of the tri- 
umphs wrought for us by the kind Providence of God : 
happy, thrice happy that quiet was again visiting our af- 



flioted country, there falls a bolt from heaveu that misses 
every liead hut the one we were ready to crown with a na- 
tion's hlessilis:, and to whose wisdom, gentleness and lidelity 
we gladly and confidently entrusted the sacred work of 
closing up the nation's wounds. But, he is gone. Too 
honest to question the sincerity of others ; too well disposed 
to suspect danger to his person ; panoplied in truth, and full 
of happy feeling, he laid himself o})en to the cruel purpose 
and murderous longings of his coward foes, and has been 
struck down, the honored head and leader of his people, in 
the very climax of his triumph. 

To give some system to our thoughts in dwelling upon 
this untoward, and, as we confess, inscrutable providence, 
let me say a few things concerning his public character, and 
then mention one or two of the lessons which his death, in 
view of our present circumstances as a people, is calculated 
to impart. 

I incline to the opinion that no one ever filled the high 
office from which he has been removed, that ever found it 
invested with as grave and trying responsibilities. Xever 
since tlio foundation of our government, was the Presidential 
chair environed with such solenm and weighty cares, or 
crowded with perplexities that calk'il ft»r as great wisdom, 
])rudence and firmness in tlieir management, as when he 
took possession of it, on the fourth of ]\[arch, A. 1). 1S61. 
The im1)ecility of his predecessor, and tlie wholesale roguery 
of the greater part of Buchanan's cabinet counsellors — the 
defenceless condition of the country, many of the leading 
civilians and trained soldiers having thrown themselves into 
the raid-:s of its enemies — the public finances straightened — 
widc-spi'cad sym])athy for the Ilebel South entertained by 
tlic crowned heads and cahinets of Europe, especially the 
cold-hearted indifference and latent enmity, as subsequent 
events have demonstrated, of our old mother, England, with 
whom self-interest ever seems to have been the rule — disaf- 
fi'ctioti ill the Nortiu where wt-Tc to he found many proJ)llet^ 
of e\il au<:'Ur\Mll combiiUMl to ])riidu(:e a s(>ii of trouble^ 



9 

the angry and heaving bilhnvs ofwliich threatened to dash and 
founder our ship of state, when tlio hehn was phxccd in the 
liands of Abraham Lincohi. How he has managed our 
public aifairs; how wisely he has conducted our counsels, 
skilfully controlled differences in the advised policy of his 
friends, commencing his work in the midst of a gigantic 
disturbance ; how he has in many cases brought order ont of 
confusion, avoiding and postponing trouldes likely to arise 
from an inconsiderate zeal ; contriviug with a playful but 
wise remark, or an anecdote fitly chosen, to set aside the 
suggestions of an extreme or fanatical haste to grasp results 
without carefully examining the means of their accomplish- 
ment ; hoM', during four years of convulsive and agoniziug 
civil war, himself the very centre of the tumult, he has 
never lost his confidence in the ultimate triumph of the right 
— cheerful when multitudes were desponding ; giving tone 
and courage to the spirit of the ])nl)lic, when disheartening 
repulses and nnlooked for defeats M'ere crowding upon us ; 
surrounded with influences sorely frying to the patience, 
and enough to exasperate the temper of almost any man — ■ 
yet, througli the whole trying time of his administration, 
calm, unruffled, kind, never giving vent to a rancorous word 
to his most violent enemies, or the fiercest and most unscru- 
pulous political opponents in the Korth — is enough to satisfy 
the loyal states that in their President they had more than 
an ordinary man ; enough to convince the people that they 
were not mistaken in their choice when they elevated the 
once humble rail-splitter to the Presidential chair. Their 
estimate of his worth and virtues can be read in the flags 
upon the house-tops, the enddems of mouruiug that are ap- 
pended to their dwellings and persons, the funeral wail that 
has spread from sea to sea, and the nation's fears that this 
day are falling on his bier. 

We do not claim perfection for him. There never walked 
the earth but one perfect man — the God-num-mediator. 
That he never committed a jnistake, nor uttered a word in 
the freedom of social intercourse to which the fastidious 



10 

iJiioht not have taken exception, we do not pretend. But, 
that lie Avas tlie man for the crisis — that God raised him up 
to meet tlie Avants of the nation — I thinlv tlie large majority 
of those Avliose sympathy for another may have for a time 
inclined them to underrate his worth, are as ready to admit 
us those who helped to elevate him to othce. 

Xever Avas the heart of the man more fully exhibited than 
during the last days of his administration. His eagerness 
to show, by his public acts, kindness towards those who only 
(jubmitted in their extremity ; the promptness with which 
their submission Avas received ; its manner, and the measures 
taken to restore them to the fold of the Union — demonstrated 
to all, if till then unknown to any, that he brought to his 
high office no prejudice of section, no personal resentments, 
no unkind or bitter feelings of hatred to such as were ripe 
for rebellion and violent in their antipathies ; no desire for 
anything so strong as tlie preservation of our Union and its 
Constitution. His impulses were all magnanimous, his pur- 
poses inflexibly just, and his sole aim to perform his trust 
with-an uncompromising fidolity. His inaugural addresshe 
never falsified ; his oath of office he kept inviolate ; and 
Avhatever change was made in his policy, whatever acts he 
caused to be done, which in more peaceful times might be 
considered arbitrary and in oonflict with the charter of our 
rights and privileges, were forced upon him by the exigent 
cies of tlic })nblic and the necessities arising from a state of 
war. If fault can be found, it leans to the side of kindness 
to the undeserving. His hand Avas often gloved, when trea- 
son had no i-ighttolook for anything but the gauntlet. But, 
that heart which was so full of kindness and generosity, 
warm, confiding and unsuspecting, throbs no more. That 
brain so cool, deliberate, sensible and calculating, thinks uo 
more. His services are ended — the grave receives him, a 
nation mom"n>^ him. and their I'everence for him will last 
through all (■(uniiig time. 

In the review ot' Iiis administration, there is one thing 
which, under (m.kI, 1il' was the instruiueut of accomplishing 



11 

on \vliie]i tlie eye of the pliilantliropist or tlie cliristiaii can- 
not rest, we tliink, witliout feelings of peculiar gratitude. I 
refer now to the removal of that fearful hlight which fur so 
long a time rested upon the southern portion of our countrv 
— the darkest, indeed the only stain upon our luitional escut- 
cheon — the contradiction of our free institutions, and the 
only thing which could hring a hlush to the face of an 
American citizen, at home or al)roa(l. 

The evil was seen and lamented by our fathers who framed 
the constitution ; it found its introduction and ])rotection 
there, through the compromises which wise and good men 
felt themselves compelled to make in order to secure a gov- 
ernment ; and, more on the ground of expediency than from 
a sense of strict and impartial justice, its existence was tole- 
rated, in the fond hope of its ultimate extinction. There 
was a time when the leading minds of the South ahhorred 
it. Gradual emancipation was looked to for its cure, and 
the doctrine cherished and advocated that an enlightened 
public sentiment, under the plastic inliuence of a pure 
Christianity, would one day, and that not very remote, let 
every slave go free. But Leviathan was not to be thus 
tamed. The discovery of the cotton-gin, which came from 
the prolific genius of the cold North, stimulated the hope of 
gain in the warm heart of the sunny South. Mammon tri- 
umphed over human right, and tutored by its unscrupulous 
teachings, beings made in the image of God were found to 
be little else than soulless chattels. Divinity w^as appealed 
to in justification of the claim, and the world proudly chal- 
lenged to prove its unrighteousness. AVliat selfishness en- 
couraged, indiscretion exasperated. Extremists both liorth 
and South contributed to rivet the chains upon the unha})py 
descendants of Canaan. The constitution was held up as a 
shield to cover and protect the monstrous wrong. Thought- 
ful conservative minds who saw the wickedness of holding 
men in bondage, were sickened and disgusted with its una- 
voidable, if not invariable concomitants, but fealty to the 
terms of the original compact denied them the right to in- 



12 

terfere, and for its removal vain indeed appeared the wisdom 
and tlie power of man. 

But God lias interposed. In the contest for the preserva- 
tion of our national integrity, he has wroiiii'lit out a result, 
conducting us to it through a bajvtism of Idood, which an- 
swers tlie prayer that has ascended from millions of agonized 
hearts, and that proclaims a time of jubilee to the negroes 
of the South. AVe are soon to be relieved of this terrible 
incubus. The heart of the iiation is free from this fearful 
nightmare, which God has helped her to throw from her 
laljoring breast, and that part of our constitution so long a 
falsehood and a farce has become a glorious reality. We can 
now truthfully affirm that the clause in it, wdiich for more 
than half a century we ignored in our public administrations, 
is part and parcel of our national life. Declaring and vindi- 
cating by our practice, that wd hold life, liherty^ and the 
pursuit of happiness, as man's inalienable right, Abraham 
Lincoln has been the instrument in bringing it about. But 
for him that amendment to our constitution, soon to be rati- 
lied by the required majority of the states, might never have 
been submitted to the people. Generations yet unborn will 
l)less him for his agency in its accomplishment ; and if there 
was nothing else to embalm his worth and virtues in the re- 
mendu'ance of a grateful posterity, this alone would be suf- 
ficient. 

There is one thing more I desire to mention concerning 
our departed President, which for one I would place amongst 
liis tincst traits of character. Official life has something in 
it to blunt the gentle sensibilities of the soul— to chill, if 
not to dwarf, the affections of the heart. Power is a dan- 
gerous thing, dangerous to its possessor, not merely witli 
respect to the many calcining iuHuences from without, but 
the bad humors of which every human heart partakes. I 
once heard a member of Congress remark in the course of a 
tire-side conversation, and who had been led to serious re- 
tlection by his attendance on one of the sanctuaries in our 
nietropolis, •■' if ever I get to heaven, I must resign and re- 



13 

turn to my quiet home; here, men furget ^vho and M-hat 
they are ; they have every thing to make them proud, selfish, 
inconsiderate and reckless." But office seemed to have no 
hardening, no demoralizing eifect upon our President. He 
was full of the gentlest affection — was never known to give 
vent to passion, nor to become the subject of violent emo- 
tion. His worst enemies cannot point to one particle of 
evidence drawn from his official writings, nor his private in- 
tercourse, that he ever expressed towards them a single bit- 
ter, vindictive feeling, and as has been well said, his heart 
was as little hardened by the patronage, the cares, the ex- 
citements and the responsibilities of office, as if he had lived 
and died in the midst of the comforts and cpiiet joys of a 
farm-house. lie continued throughout his whole adminis- 
tration the same plain, frank, familiar, accessible man that 
he was known to be previous to his entrance upon his re- 
sponsible work as our chief magistrate. Those who knew 
him most intimately in the private walks of life, declare that 
his charities were frequent. One of the very last acts of his 
life was to remit a sum of money to a southern man who 
had remained staunch in his attachment to the old flag, and 
which cost him his entire patrimony, as well as the gains of 
a lucrative profession. Another was to give a passport to a 
foreign country to one who had given all his influence, nor 
was it small, in favor of the rebellion. Allow me to men- 
tion an incident which occurred under my own notice. 
Shortly after the war commenced, business called me to the 
national metropolis. The day after my introduction to him, 
through the kindness of one of his calnnet, when the pres- 
sure of public interests was such that few strangers could 
obtain access, even to greet him fur a moment — passing early 
in the morning in front of the White House — the name by 
which the presidential mansion is known — I saw him stand- 
ins: under the shade of one of the trees that embellish the 
lawn. Presuming upon the heartiness with which he had 
received me the previous day, I approached the spot and 
spent some ten or flfteen minutes in conversation. Among 



14 

otlier things I said to liiiu, " Mr. President, it afforded me 
no little pleasure to read tlie report of the address made to 
your old friends and towns-folk on leaving Springfield, and 
that in it you asked an interest in their prayers, and owned 
your dependence on the God of nations and of grace, for 
strength and wisdom to meet tlie responsibilities of your 
higli otfice. Sir, that request has tbund a ready response in 
more hearts than those to whom it was addressed in person. 
All over the North God's people are praying for you. I 
speak witli confidence on this point with respect to my own 
fiock in Xewhurgh. You share largel}^ in their afi'ection 
and their prayers." By this time the tears were rolling- 
down Jiis cheeks, and choked with feeling myself, the inter- 
view ended. 

I could well understand and readily accredit the statement 
of a gentleman — and which has been recently reported in 
one of our city papers — that on one occasion he repeated to 
the President a conversation he once heard at Beaufort l)e- 
tween an aged class-leader, and some of his fellow-negroes 
who were employed in some menial service, giving it in the 
peculiar pathos which is common among the colored race in 
the South : " Do you think," said one to the old man, " that 
it is true we are going to be free 'T " Certainly," replied the 
other, " Massa Lincoln, him like de bressed Lord, be every 
where, and we's going to be liberated ; he'll do it." The 
President, hearing this expression of confidence and affec- 
tionate reverence, as coming from the lips of that poor old 
man, moved to a window to hide his tears. 'Tis pleasant to 
be able to recall sucli testimonials to the kindness and ten- 
derness of his heart. They show it to have been in the 
right place, and that his goodness constituted no small ele- 
ment of his greatness. 

I am no man-worshipper. I would neither forget the 
presence nor the place in wliich I stand, nor the sacred call- 
ing to which I liave devoted myself, on the i)resent occasion. 
Jhit in view of them all, I tliank God that there is every 
thing we could ask to justify the confidence we had in him 



15 

while living, and the regret we felt at his death. He was 
not the greatest man that ever lived. In some things he 
was not the equal of our country's father, and might have 
been excelled in some things by our country's savior, who 
nipped rebellion in the l)ud years ago, and by his prompt- 
ness and determination awed the southern hotspurs, for a 
time, into quiet submission. There was in Washington a 
grave and impei'turbaljle dignity of character which caused 
and awakened in all who approached him a solemn venera- 
tion. There was in Jackson an impetuosity which few 
dared to invoke, and with which none ventured to trifle — a 
man of iron will, as uncompromising in the chastisement of 
his enemies as he was ardent in his attachment to his friends 
— but, Ave claim that Abraham Lincoln Avas a man of sound 
and comprehensive intellect, of great goodness of heart, 
honest, practical, showing vastly more concern for tlie })ub- 
lic welfare than his own reputation — artless, misuspicious, 
unpretentious, of homely popular humor, acting out himself 
with a simplicity and fearlessness which won for him a 
larger space in the hearts of the people than any man we 
have had in the presidential chair since the days of AVash- 
ington. 

His was a cruel death. I would fondly hope that the 
number of those plotting it were very few ; that tlie coward 
hand which dealt the blow was grasped in friendship by 
very few who knew his murderous purpose ; that there are 
multitudes in the South as earnest and hearty in its con- 
demnation as the people of the ]^ortli ; and that, should 
justice overtake the perpetrator of the diabolical crime, and 
all the circumstances connected with the outrage be fully 
known, the planning as well as the execution of it, will ap- 
pear to have been tlie work of the veriest handful. Be that 
as it may, none have greater reason to mourn the untimely 
tragic death of our chief magistrate than our brethren of 
the South. They had as much, if not more, to expect from 
his clemency and sense of justice than from any one likely 
to succeed to his position ; and, if his assassination was in- 



16 

stigated Ijv any of the leader.s of the rel)ellioii, or is sanc- 
tioned by the body of tlieir people, it only shows that there 
is neither measnre nor method in their madness. 

He longed for peace ; he rejoiced in the hope of being 
able to close up the still bleeding wonnds of the nation, to 
bury all its fends ; he was Avilling to risk the censure of 
his friends in giving, as some supposed, too lenient terms to 
tliose whose wickedness had poured tlie vials of sorrow upon 
tlie wliole land ; to restore to a state of unity, and bring 
together in a spirit of l)rotherhood, those who had been so 
terribly embittered and widely alienated ; and, when the 
prospect was fairest for its accomplishment, he is struck 
down. "What the results may be, are only known to God; 
and let our prayer ascend that his successor may partake 
largely of his spirit, and bring speedily to a blessed consum- 
mation the Avork he so nobly commenced. 

And now let us enrpiire, in a few M'ords, what are some of 
the lessons of wisdom to be derived from tliis terrible ca- 
lamity ? 

There is one thing, at least, that our trans-atlantic quasi 
friends may learn from it, viz : the value and stability of a 
republican form of government, AVhat nation in Euro}>e 
could sustain such a shock, at the close of such a war and 
in the midst of such disturbance as still exists in our land, 
without reeling or falling i Were Louis Xapoleon to fall by 
the assassin's hand, how long, think yon, Avould it be before 
the whole of France found itself in tumultuous u})roar, or 
in a state of revolution ? But, let wlio may die amongst us, 
the government still lives. No one man is indispensable to 
the workings of our political C(Uitinuance, since the music of 
its completed machinery saluted thc^ oar of tlie old thirteen 
orio-inal states. So far from cxcitiiiix a rexolution amongst 
us, sudden, awful and perik)us in point of consequences as 
was the death of our chief magisti'ate, the people are more 
closely drawn together than they felt themselves to be before 
his deatli. Its \ ery manner lias tightened the cords wliich 
bound jiatriot liearts ; and his blood has helped to cement in 



17 

fraternal accord and synipatliy many -whoni previous ditter- 
ences in sentiment had alienated. 

Never since tlie rebellion commenced Mere the loyal i)eo- 
ple more thoronghly nnited in one common pcntiinent of 
devotion to their country, as well as o-rief for the calamity, 
which has befallen it, than they are this day. Party i-ancor 
is Imshed, political strife has ceased, and men of all shades- 
and stripes politically tind they have a common interest, as 
well as a common grief. Their tone, their mannoi'. the ex- 
pressions of the lip and the feelings of the heart, show a. 
glorious revival of the words of the old hero, " The Union 
omcst and shall he preserved ^ 

Take onr village as a type. Here men have differed, and 
honestly too, both as to men and measures. Excitement ran 
high, accompanied Avith no little acidity of temper, during 
our last presidential campaign ; things were said and done 
in the heat of passion, the folly of which were obvious in 
<'ooler moments ; but, how is it now? The man who would 
dare disparage, slight or insult the memory of our departed ^ 
chief, needs one of the pacing lamas of the east, whose speed 
of locomotion is said to ecpial the iron horse, to escape the 
fury of the people. 

The Lord has taught us, by this visitation, how unsafe 
and sinful it is to forget our dependence on him in the day 
of trial, and has rebuked that practical iiiiidelity which so 
often looks exclusively to human instrumentality for the ac- 
complishment of ends which he alone can work out. AVe 
may not have been as hmnble and thankful for our recent 
triumphs as we should have been. In the midst of our 
happy excitement, there may have been too great cai'eless- 
ness of his viewless hand — too much glorification of the 
creature in forgetful nessof the creato]' ; and thu^, in the 
midst of the prevailing insensibility and folly, his rod has 
fallen, to teach us that he will be kn.own l)y the judgments 
which he executes. May he not have designed this, among* 
other ends to l)e accomplished, to hel]> our repentauco, by 
humbling us under his mighty hand i 



18 

This visitation plar-es in a reinarkal)l_v strong liglit, tlie 
teaching of the wise man who wonld have ns inscribe vanity 
<in all earthly possessions and attainments. Bnt yesterday, 
tlic departed was the honored liead of a vast empire, the 
virtual commander of great armies, reverenced and idolized 
l)y a vast multitude, holding in his hands the political condi- 
tion of thirty millions of people; strong and healthful, l)id- 
ding fair to witness the full-orhed splendor of that happy 
day just beginning to dawn — catching a Pisgah view of that 
happy land in which he ]i(»})c<l to live with his pe(»ple re- 
ileemed from all the perils of civil war, and the curse of 
bondage, for many years; but, in a moment he is struck 
down, and all of earth and earthly things are no more to 
Inm than the narrow house to which his fading remains are 
s^oon to be conveyed by gentle hands and stricken hearts. 
And. this takes place in the sight, as it were, of the whole 
nation, in the very midst of their rejoicings. Could any 
thing be more eminently impressive, or better calculated to 
prompt the prayer, " Lord, teach me the measure of my 
days, that I may learn how frail I am" ; and to live con- 
stantly with a wise reference to the future — to let the world 
«nd till' things of it rest so lightly on our hearts, that we 
may have neither disinclination nor regret in throwing them 
off, let our summons come when it may i 

Finally — let this sad visitation })rom})t us to repose all our 
interests, public and }>rivate, national and personal, in the 
hands of him whose gracious Providence is our best secur- 
ity. Onv fathers trusted in him in the days that tried men's 
souls; nor were they disappointed. We may abide safely 
under the shadow of his wing. Xone that trust in him 
shall be left desolate. 

Above all things, let us be concci-iicil to know that we 
have a personal interest in him who is the resurrection and 
the life ; that whoever else niay prove an enemy, we may 
have in him a friend. Disloyalty to our government is 
justly regarded as an offence of more than t)rdinary magni- 
tude. Is enniitv to (rod a smader sin ( Let none of us be 



19 

Ibolisli and wicked enougli to risk liis displeasure by a life 
•of irreligion. If we liave already given liini our hearts, let 
the event which has called us together prompt ns to the 
cultivation of a more ardent aifection. If, while we mourn 
the loss of our chief magistrate, we have never sorrowed for 
our sins, let us hear, heed and improve the voice speaking to 
to us, from his coffined dust, " Be ye also ready, for in such 
an hour as ye think not, the son of man cometli.'" 



S '12 



